Prepared for playoffs? Guess again

John Camardella was getting everything in place for his first regional game at Prospect's boys basketball coach.

Northside Prep, located, naturally on the North Side of Chicago, wasn't on the familiar side to the Knights for their Class 4A opener in the Niles North regional.

Camardella went to work getting game tapes, putting together scouting reports and sending sophomore coach Mike McColaugh on a sojourn to the city to see Northside in person.

And then, six days after the IHSA released the 3A and 4A pairings, boys athletic director Tom Martindale gave Camardella some breaking news about the Evanston sectional.

"He walked in and said, 'You might want to check the (IHSA) Web site,' " Camardella said.

Eighth-seeded Prospect was now playing No. 10 Notre Dame instead of No. 11 Northside. A computer glitch resulted in changes to the Evanston, Proviso East and Richards sectionals in 4A and Rich South in 3A.

"My sophomore coach spent five hours in the city to find out it doesn't matter," Camardella said. "It gives us a week less to prepare because we already had put a scout in. It did throw a huge wrench into it."

Camardella said he -- and other coaches in the Prospect athletic department -- couldn't believe the IHSA made the changes nearly a week later.

He wasn't the only one.

"I still can't figure it out," said St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski. "Still, you've got to go play where they tell you to play."

Majkowski was fortunate he didn't scout original opponent Elk Grove, which had coach Anthony Furman and his team come to watch Viator in what turned out to be non-required viewing of a 68-62 overtime loss to Prospect.

Now the 13th-seeded Lions open Monday against Leyden at Glenbrook North. The winner gets the fourth-seeded hosts.

"I wonder how it came about," Majkowski said.

IHSA assistant executive director and boys basketball administrator Kurt Gibson said he noticed an issue with certain sectionals three days after the pairings were originally released Feb. 8.

Gibson said for some reason with the Chicago-area sectionals involved, seeds lower than the top eight were assigned by the computer using last year's criteria of geographic proximity to regional hosts. This year, the Chicago area returned to the sectional complex seeding-pairing format.

"You can't take the chance nobody would catch this," Gibson said. "You've got to make the change, as lousy as it is at that point in time."

Gibson said advisories of upcoming changes were sent to schools involved via the IHSA school directory Feb. 12. First-year Leyden coach Bill Heisler found out his opener was changed when he went on the internet to check out some pairings.

"If we still had two classes I don't think this would've happened," said Heisler, who led Warsaw to the Class A title in 1997.

Gibson understood the frustration as a former coach. Gibson said the IHSA should have double-checked the pairings to make sure there were no problems.

"We'll do our best to not have it happen again," Gibson said.

At least there is some good news for Camardella. He didn't need a full tank of gas to see Notre Dame in its makeup game at St. Viator on Monday.

And finding tape and scouting reports won't be too difficult since Notre Dame beat Prospect 60-57 in the seventh-place game of the Wheeling tournament.

Nice tuneup: Warren and Hoffman Estates have tough rivalry games in rugged 4A regionals. And they had a tough nonconference battle last Saturday as the visiting Blue Devils pulled out a 50-47 victory.

"It's a good ballgame for us before the tournament," said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey, whose team opens with Mundelein in the Libertyville regional with No. 1 Zion-Benton, "because Hoffman is a strong defensive, physical team. They've got excellent coaching and it's a good team to play against and get a win over here."

And the Blue Devils' second Saturday fourth-quarter comeback in Hoffman Estates -- they beat Conant 53-49 on Feb. 9 -- extended their winning streak to six.

"Our chemistry -- we've played a lot better team defense," said Warren junior and Illinois recruit Brandon Paul. "Offensively we're a lot better. We're really working well together and keeping our composure throughout the game."

No. 10 Hoffman opens with No. 7 Schaumburg at the regional hosted by No. 2 Conant.

"It's the kind of game you up seeing when you play in the regional," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro, who is 2 wins from 300 in 17 years at the school. "It's a great opportunity to play this time of year to get ready.

"I told the kids I thought they did a good job of stepping up and doing some of the things we needed to do.

"I don't think this game takes momentum away from us. It lets us know where we have to be to win."

And rejuvenated play from senior Steve Anderson and a boost from junior guard Kemill Long could help a lot.

"We've got people coming off the bench playing good minutes," said Hoffman junior forward Tom Dombrowski. "It helps out. That's what you need to see from a playoff team."

Mustang rally? The cold and snow doesn't figure to allow Valparaiso baseball signee and Rolling Meadows senior Kyle Gaedele to get on the field any time soon.

So the MSL scoring leader for the second straight year hopes his basketball season goes a little longer. The Mustangs snapped a 7-game losing streak Tuesday at Barrington and if they beat Round Lake on Monday, they'd get a third shot at Buffalo Grove.

"No one's quit, that's not the way it's gone," Gaedele said. "We're in every game and it will be fun to see what we can do in the playoffs.

"We could surprise some people and we're really looking forward to BG if we can get past Round Lake."

BG won both meetings 61-48 and 52-49. Meadows lost to only one team with a losing record in its skid.

"I told them after the Stevenson game (61-53 loss), we've played some tough teams and at times we've played real well," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "To these guys' credit, we had a 6:30 a.m. practice Monday and they came out as fired up as they have all year, like they've won seven in a row.

"They've showed great character and great determination."

BG looks to get out of a funk where it has lost three of its last four and four of its last six games.

"It's an ongoing theme with us -- the games we've lost we've missed some easy shots," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor after Wednesday's 61-51 MSL title-game loss to Conant. "If the guys don't figure out how to finish with more confidence things can end abruptly."

That's not what senior and fourth-year varsity player Brian DeSimone has in mind.

"We can't come out like that -- how many layups did we miss," DeSimone said. "We've got to work on the little things and we'll be alright."

Trivial pursuits: Some MSL history for trivia buffs:

• Conant joined Schaumburg (1999-2001), Fremd (1997-98), Rolling Meadows (1989-91), Prospect (1984-86), Arlington (1982-83) and Buffalo Grove (1976-78) as repeat title-game winners.

• Prospect, BG and Hersey are tied with the most outright or shared division titles at 12.

• A regional-opener win would give Wheeling consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1984-86.

• Schaumburg's third-place finish in the West extended its record of upper-half division/MSL finishes to 15. Next are Prospect with 12 (1981-92) and Arlington with 11 (1969-79).

• Elk Grove's win over Wheeling last Friday extended its streak of never suffering a winless division/MSL finish. BG is the only other active member to accomplish the feat -- Arlington and Forest View did it before closing.

Tip-ins: St. Patrick (18-6, 10-2) travels to St. Joseph (19-6, 10-2) for the East Suburban Catholic Conference title tonight. St. Patrick won the first meeting 48-46 in overtime … Oak Park (21-5, 9-2) is at Lyons (21-3, 9-2) for the West Suburban Silver title tonight. Lyons won the first meeting 68-60 … The difficulty of the Proviso East sectional is underscored by St. Patrick getting a 10th seed and opening with Lincoln Park. Morton's reward for its best season since 1955 at 22-3 with a WSC Gold title is an eighth-seed and potential regional final at top-seed Whitney Young.